The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) are a Roman Catholic congregation of women religious which traces its origins to a group founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, around 1650 by Jean Pierre Medaille, S.J.

Felicite’ Duras, Countess de la Roche Jacquelin, offered to defray expenses.

The Ursulines told them to disguise their religious habit when going abroad and while traveling to St. Louis as there was anti-Catholic feeling among some residents.

[1] Escorted by Bishop Rosati, the sisters boarded the steamer, the George Collier, traveled up the Mississippi and reached St. Louis on 25 March 1836.

[2] On September 12, the remaining sisters settled in a log cabin in the village of Carondelet, about five miles south of the city of St. Louis.

[1] In 1847, the first foundation outside St. Louis was made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, followed shortly by foundations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1851); Hamilton, Ontario (1852); Wheeling, West Virginia (1853); and Canandaigua (1854); Flushing (Brentwood) (1856); Rochester; and Buffalo, all in New York state, which had received many Irish Catholic immigrants.

On April 15, 1858, one German, one Irish, and two native-born sisters arrived by train in Oswego, New York in the midst of a snowstorm, to establish a school for Catholic immigrants.

[3] Because of the rapid growth of the institute and the increasing demand for sisters from all parts of the United States, the superiors of the community called a general chapter in May 1860, to which representatives from every congregational house in America were summoned.

The congregation is led by a leadership team, which currently consists of sisters Sally Harper, Patty Johnson, Mary M. McGlone, and Sean C.

A log cabin became the first site of Saint Joseph's Academy in early November 1851, a day and boarding school for girls.

[15] Through these ministries, St. Paul Sisters and Consociates strive to foster the common good through advocacy, creative arts, education, healthcare, social service, and spirituality.

Their first school, the future St. Joseph's Academy, opened on June 6, 1870, eleven days after their arrival in Tucson.

When Bishop Salpointe opened St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson in 1880, health care became an important part of the Sisters’ ministry.

As the majority of ministries increased in California, Los Angeles was selected as seat of the western province and established in 1903.

Academies were established as early as 1882, Mount St. Mary's College (now University) was founded in 1925, and Sisters were teaching in parish schools in five states.

Work with the deaf, a treasured tradition since the first days in St. Louis, flourished for many years in Oakland and San Francisco.

In 1962, the Sisters of St. Joseph responded to the request of Pope John XXIII that religious communities send ten percent of their members as missionaries to Latin America.

All are received on the same footing, all enjoy the same privileges, and all are subject to the same obedience which assigns duties according to ability, talent, and aptitude.